What’s the best neighborhood for housing in New York according to your taste and budget?

A number of people often ask me: what is the best neighborhood for a short-term stay in NYC? Often, I will to answer: it all depends on your taste and budget. What kind of neighborhood you prefer staying: touristic, hip and young, with locals or/and affordable? Precisely, this is where the problem is: you’ll have to make a decision!!! 🙂 🙂

A different housing for a first stay and for further trips to New York?

On the first place, I’m tempted to say that for a first trip to New York, a touristic neighborhood like Times Square is a perfect choice. Now, for a 2nd trip to New York, a quiet environment among local New Yorkers is preferable. Anyway, you might want a calm place while getting to know New Yorkers on your first trip to New York. It really depends of your preferences.

Is there any affordable housing in New York?

Of course, money matters in order to find a good deal in housing in the neighborhood you want!!! Basically, the more you lower your standards in terms of hotel ranking, quality and size of the apartment and also the further from the heart of Manhattan you’re staying, the cheaper it is. Therefore, if you’ll find an apartment in Harlem or Brooklyn will always be cheaper than any place in the center of the city with the same accommodations. So once again, it’s up to you to know if you want to prioritize a location close to the center or few minutes commuting to the city is an option. But my best tip is to stay in Long Island City, you'll be at 10-15 minutes to Times Square by Subway. I tell you more here: 3 good deals for hotels in New York

All neighborhoods defined following 7 criteria

I will try to define each neighborhood of New York according to a number of criteria: the touristic aspect, the proximity with shops or restaurants, bars and clubs, its quietness, whether local people live in the neighborhood, the number of touristic housing (hotels & apartments) and finally its rate. In this way, I’ve put stars for each criterion.

Tourism: is it a touristic area or not? Are there interesting things to see? not touristic highly touristic

Shopping: is it a great shopping area? (from a tourist perspective) very few stores great shopping area

Going out: is there any bars, restaurants or clubs in the neighborhood? very few venues excellent area for venues

Quietness: is the neighborhood quiet or not? not quiet at all very quiet

Local life: is it a neighborhood filled with locals, an office area or touristic area? very few locals mostly locals

Choice of housing: is the neighborhood mainly for tourists (hotels or short-term rentals)? very few tourists housing large choice of housing

Rates: is it expensive for a hotel or an apartment? very pricey affordable

Here's a chart so you can see all the neighborhoods and their distinctive characteristics

Neighborhoods

Tourism

Shopping

Going out

Quietness

Local life

Choice of housing

Rates

Financial District

Tribeca

Chinatown

SoHo

Lower East Side (LES)

Greenwich Village

East Village

Chelsea

Flatiron District

Hell's Kitchen

Midtown

Times Square

Upper West Side

Upper East Side

Harlem

Washington Heights

Brooklyn - Williamsburg

Brooklyn - Bedford

Brooklyn

Queens - Long Island City & Astoria

Queens

Staten Island

The Bronx

New Jersey

Conclusion

I hope that this chart and these explanations will help you decide more easily in which neighborhood of NYC is the best choice while researching for housing in New York. You can find some housing options here.